


#2 - "How could you ever think that's what I meant?"

by Hyde_Writes



Series: Hyde's 102 Writing Prompts #1 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, One Shot Collection, klance, klangst, sweet?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 07:23:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8153827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyde_Writes/pseuds/Hyde_Writes
Summary: At the time the moment felt right, a bit awkward and – so what if he said it in Spanish? It meant the same thing, right? Ever since the words flew out this mouth, Keith had been mad at him – really mad and yeah, it hurt like hell. Lance was freaking the hell out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for prompt #2 of my Hyde's Writing Prompts Series. Klance, once again, requested by the ever-awesome dippindotslover. Actually it was Klangst that was requested. I hope I did the angst part right. 
> 
> I took some inspiration from something that someone pointed out on tumblr: Keith and Lance have literally ZERO cool when it comes to anything relationship-y. 
> 
> SOooooo... innocent.

                Lance glanced over his shoulder as he rounded the corner, hoping that this time he wouldn’t have to tuck and roll his way out of another awkward one-on-one with Keith. One week. It had been a full seven days since Lance had let slip his feelings to Keith. At the time the moment felt right, a bit awkward and – so what if he said it in Spanish? It meant the same thing, right? Ever since the words flew out this mouth, Keith had been mad at him – really mad and yeah, it hurt like hell. Lance was freaking the hell out.

                The palace was big, like, really big, but for some reason Lance kept running into Keith. In the halls, in the common areas, right outside the training room when Keith was all sweaty and breathing heavy and – not the point. Lance couldn’t stand the awkward moments anymore. It was like they were magnets, positive and negative, being drawn towards each other. The past couple days, they had run into each other on the way to dinner and Lance had a plan to put an end to that.

                He had been called to dinner a few minutes earlier and decided that he was going to take the farthest out-of-the-way route that he could to get to the dining room. He hooked left from his room and followed the sharp turns, remembering each turn as he wound his way toward the long-forgotten halls that led to the back entrance of the dining room. The walls and pillars were less maintained in the far reaches of the castle and here and there, small bits of plaster and stone had been chipped out of the towering structures. The forgotten halls were colder than the well-used ones, but were still lit brilliantly by the glowing blue panels.

                Lance looked over his shoulder again, then back and forth around each corner, before he lunged across the hall and slipped into the large vaulted room. He was late for the meal and everybody was sitting at the table eating, but that was okay. The more people between him and Keith, the better.

                All eyes were on Lance as he stalked into the room uncomfortably. They probably wondered why he was entering from the side of the room that was the opposite direction of his living quarters, he thought, trying to shrug off the awkward stares. It didn’t work though. Shiro gave him a suspicious squint, Hunk looked confused but concerned, Allura and Coran just exchanged a glance that looked more like shock than anything. The only thing that got a rise out of Pidge was when Lance sat down heavily next to them, far away from Keith. Pidge’s eyes bounced from Keith’s angry glances to Lance’s melancholy downward glare. Lance didn’t want to be there, being scrutinized by them. Pidge, with a glint in their eye and a dark, evil little grin, spoke first.

                “Why aren’t you guys sitting next to each other? You’re practically joined at the freaking hip.” They raised their arms out with their palms up in a falsely innocent fashion. They were not innocent, Pidge knew what was up and they hit the nail on the head like always. Lance rolled his eyes in annoyance and ignored the cold sweat that broke out across the back of his neck. Keith let out an angry little huff and crossed his arms, sinking deeper into his chair.

                “Quiet Pidge,” Shiro warned from the other side of the table. “Don’t provoke people. We’ve talked about this.”

                Pidge had their head rested on their folded arms and smirked evilly at Lance. “Doesn’t matter anyway,” there was laughter in their eyes as they peered over their glasses. “my part is done.” They looked over to Shiro. “They’ll have to acknowledge that they’re mad at each other.”

                “Pidge.” Shiro looked at the blonde with a worried stare.

                “Then they’ll have to acknowledge why they’re mad at each other.” They smirked.

                “Pidge, stop aggravating your teammates.” Allura scolded from the seat next to Shiro. “As Paladins, you must – “

                Pidge’s sly smirk turned into a scowl. “No! I’ll aggravate the both of them until they stop fighting. We haven’t been able to form Voltron fully since they started fighting and every time we try to, Voltron falls.” They leaned forward over their hands. “You know what happens when a partially formed Voltron falls? Green gets pummeled to the ground and damaged. Now those two need to quit fighting and I’m not training with either of them until they make up!” Pidge slammed their hands onto the cold stone surface and pushed away from the table. They stomped away, Hunk following behind them, calling their name.

                Then the table was silent and Lance’s palms began to sweat. He didn’t have to look up, he knew that they were all looking at him and that Keith was being as angry as ever. A twinge of pain like lightning shot across his chest at the thought, but he continued to ignore everyone at the table. The silence stretched on and all Lance could hear was the pounding of his heart.

                Shiro broke the silence with a sigh. “Guys, what’s –“ Keith stood up from the table abruptly, the scarping of his chair, drawing Lance’s attention.

                “I’m going to my room.” He turned and walked, angrily away from the chorusing calls of his name.

                Lance’s heart rate sped up and he made a break for it, bolting out of his chair fast enough to tip it over. It hurt so bad, having Keith be so mad at him just because Lance told him how he felt. Tears began sting his eyes and choked sobs burst out of his throat as he ran toward the exit. He didn’t want Shiro and the others to see him like that. Sadly, to add injury to insult, with his blurred vision, Lance ran right into some alien piece of furniture. He fell straight on his face and Shiro, Allura and Coran were at his side instantly. Lance groaned.

                All three faces stared at him, Allura with pity, Shiro with a studious curiousness and Coran with confusion. Lance could stand being rejected, he’d been slapped so many times that he was numb in his left cheek, but he couldn’t shake this one and he sure as hell couldn’t take being studied like a lab rat while he was crying over being rejected. He had gotten over refusals before, no matter how harsh, but Keith’s rejection did something to him, something that made his chest ache with cold sadness.

                Shiro’s hands cupped under Lance’s armpits and pulled him up to a sitting position, holding him up with a strong arm. The older man pulled him close into an almost half hug. Lance tried and failed to hold in a choked sob.

                “Lance, you have to talk –“ Shiro’s voice was deep and quiet as if he were trying to calm a wild animal. Indignation pulsed through Lance’s chest and a bolt of pain shot through his core.

                “I can’t. Shiro, I can’t.” Another choked sob bubbled out of his throat and Shiro pulled him into a full hug. That opened the flood gates. Lance clutched onto Shiro’s shirt as streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. Short gasping cries pulled from Lance’s chest as Shiro rubbed circles into his back. It was embarrassing, but also calming enough for Lance regulate his breathing.

                “Lance.” Shiro leveled with him, his tone of voice letting him know he wanted the truth. “What happened between you guys?”

                Lance spared a grateful thought that Shiro didn’t mention Keith’s name, but sucked in a deep breath with apprehension at the question.  He looked down at his shaking hands, still tangled in Shiro’s shirt and steeled himself against the deep, aching pain that settled in the spaces between his ribs. He guessed he took too long to answer because Shiro’s mechanical hand gripped his chin and pulled Lance’s line of sight to Shiro’s serious, grey eyes.

                “Lance.” Shiro looked at him sadly and Allura’s hand wrapped warmly around his shoulder with a gentle squeeze. That was it. Lance jumped up and pushed Shiro’s hands off of himself. He stood, pin straight, in front of the three elders, his eyes turned down. He braced himself, and sucked in a breath. He was pumping himself up for the big reveal, thinking “ _this is it. Everybody gets to know why Lance is crying his eyes out in the middle of dinner._ ” The words were sitting on the tip of his tongue, ready to roll out of his lips, but he couldn’t do it. It was one thing to feel and think about Keith rejecting him. It was another to say out loud that Keith nearly punched him the next day after Lance confessed his love to the guy. Lance’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head.

                “I can’t.” Lance squeezed his eyes shut against the tears and looked away from his elders. There was another long silence, then, as if a giant freaking lightbulb materialized in the space above their heads, they all sighed an “oh.”

                It was Allura who approached Lance first, her deep blue eyes peering into his soul. Could Alteans do that? He winced at the thought of what she might find and filed it away in his mind under “things to ask later.” He looked away from her eyes quickly in case she could read his thoughts or soul or something. Her long fingers cupped around his tear-sticky cheeks and she lifted his face to look at her again.

                “Lance,” She said regally. “Keith isn’t like that. Look in your heart. You know that much at the very least.” Lance swallowed against the sob that threatened to leave his throat. That’s what hurt most. He knew Keith to be one of the most accepting people in the garrison. Sure, Hunk and Pidge were cool, but Pidge wasn’t interested in anything further than their technology projects and Hunk was accepting, but always mistrusted people at first. Keith was different though. He would just look at someone, take inventory of them with his eyes then shrug. Most saw it as snobbish indifference, but Lance saw it for what it was; pure and simple acceptance. The fact that Keith couldn’t accept even the fact without action, that Lance loved him, hurt more than anything Lance had ever experienced.  

                “I know.” Lance’s voice cracked as he looked down again.

                “Then you know that there’s a reason that he’s doing this. He has a reason and instead of letting this outcome break you, you need to find out what that reason is.” Allura picked his face up again, looking into his eyes pointedly to solidify her statement. “Go to him, Lance. Sort out your differences and make amends. Friendships are not a fragile gossamer that can be swept away from one confession.” With a pat on the cheek, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

*

                Lance paced the hallway in front of Keith’s room. He ran the conversation through his head multiple times with different outcomes, taking great care not to pull up any of the scenarios with a happy ending. Shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, he thought “ _okay, one more pace, then I’ll knock._ ”

                He took a breath and squeezed his eyes shut and rapped a knuckle against the cold, solid door. For a moment, nothing happened and Lance wondered if anyone could hear a knock through the solid material, but the next second, Keith was bursting through the door like an explosion.

                “Shiro, I’m not going –“ Keith paused with his arm across Lance’s chest, midway through pushing past him. Lance guessed that Keith though that he was Shiro, coming to talk him into apologizing. Lance took a shaky breath, but stepped in front of Keith.

                Keith’s eyebrows drew together and he pulled his arm away from Lance as if he’d been burned. There was anger in his violet eyes and it killed Lance to see.

                “What do you want?” Keith’s scowl darkened and Lance swore the room temperature dropped a couple degrees. He licked his lips nervously and looked down at his shoes, anticipating a punch or two from Keith.

                “I wa- wanted to apologize … f- for what I said.” Lance’s heart caved in on itself and the pain was blinding, but he’d do anything – no, everything to keep their friendship. Lance ventured a look at Keith’s face. He looked skeptical, but a crease between his dark eyebrows told Lance that he was more confused than anything.

                “What? You what?” Keith let out a bark of laughter. “Can we get this date marked on a calendar and celebrate it every year?” Confusion and anger boiled in Lance’s stomach and he stood stock still as Keith continued. “The day that Lance, king of assholes apologizes! Ha!”

                Keith smirked at Lance as if the whole thing was one big joke. That made Lance’s blood boil. He’d expected Keith’s anger, maybe a struggle to get his point across or an awkward acceptance of his apology, followed by an awkwardness that would never really go away, but he didn’t expect Keith to make fun of him. Lance shut down.

                “You know what? Forget it.” Lance turned on one heel and began walking toward his room. Each step hurt like hell and the pain only amplified the farther away he got from Keith’s room. Despite the wrenching pain, he didn’t stop walking, until a hand caught ahold of his elbow.

                “Lance, what’s wrong? I was just joking.” Lance pulled his arm out of Keith’s grip and without looking at him, began walking again. If he stopped, he’d end up crying again or doing something he’d regret. The hand caught his elbow again and spun him around to face Keith.

                “Why do you have to be like that? Why do you act like the victim when you were the one who was being an asshole!” Keith glared at him, breath heaving in his chest, and Lance broke.

                “For being an asshole? An asshole! Yeah, I guess that’s all I am. I’m a fucking,” Lance shoved Keith’s shoulders back his fingertips. “asshole for telling you how I felt.” Keith’s face fell from a glare to confusion, but Lance was too hysterical to notice. “You know what, Keith? I take it all back. It was all a mistake. How could I love someone like you?” Lance brushed by Keith, making sure to shove his shoulder into the shorter guy as he passed by.

                Keith stood silently in shock, heart pounding and blood cooling in his veins. When did Lance tell him that he loved him? When? Where? How did this happen? Wait.

                “Lance! Wait!” Keith took off in a dead sprint to catch up with Lance. “Lance stop. Lance w – Lance stop walking I --.” Lance turned on him with anger and tears in his eyes.

                “What? Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Keith slowed, but didn’t back down from Lance’s stare. With a shaky breath, Keith stepped in front of Lance’s path.

                “Please, stop. Please, just – when did – did you tell me that you, you know?” Keith glanced at Lance’s slowly softening eyes. There was a lot of hurt shadowing his features, but Keith noticed with slight relief that there was no real aggression there. He stepped forward and put his shaking hands on Lance’s shoulders.

                “Lance, please. Please tell me.” Lance sucked in a deep pull of air through his teeth as if Keith’s touch hurt him.

                “Last week. In the common area. I – I didn’t mean to, but you were trying to calibrate your Bayard and the way,” Lance’s eyes lit up at the memory, but the sadness still lingered across his features. “the way you scowled at it even though you fixed it – made it work even better than before. Like it wasn’t good enough – like you could do better.” He looked away with his brown eyes darting to the ground, shyly. “It was cute. You were perfect. It slipped.” Lance shrugged his shoulders, bashfully, under Keith’s hands.

                Keith squinted at the taller man. He couldn’t remember Lance saying anything about that. He could only remember him saying something in Spanish. Oh shit. “Oh shit. Lance?” Keith flexed his now sweaty fingers on Lance’s shoulders. “That’s what you said in Spanish isn’t it?” Keith swallowed air as Lance nodded.

                “Yeah.” That was it, his simple answer and Keith’s heart broke into a sprint. Shit. Shit. Shit.

                “You didn’t say something like ‘who are you?’ or ‘loser?’” Keith scuffed his foot on the ground nervously, knowing the answer. Lance’s eyes went wide.

                “How could you ever think that’s what I meant!” Lance threw his arms up, knocking Keith’s hands from his shoulders, then smacked his own hands against his face as they fell. Lance’s features distorted as he pushed his palms against his cheeks harshly.

                Keith’s cheeks burned and he looked anywhere but lance’s face. “I, uh, asked Hunk after you ran out of the room. He said it sounded like you said ‘who are you? Loser.’ Or something like that. He wasn’t sure.” Keith suddenly felt stupid for how quickly he believed Lance had insulted him.

                “You asked Hunk? Why the hell would you ask Hunk?” Lance squinted like he was trying to remember something, then added, “Hunk doesn’t even speak Spanish.” 

                “I thought he took that language course at the garrison. So…” Keith trailed off, embarrassed.

                “That was French!” Lance buried his face in his hands and groaned out a “I can’t believe this.”

                Keith’s heart beat loudly against his chest with the realization of what this all meant and his cheeks burned a deep red. He’d never thought this would happen, no matter how hard he had wished for it. It was surreal and wonderful and – fuck it. Lance loved him. That was all the go ahead that he ever needed.

                With a smirk, Keith grabbed both of Lance’s hands and pulled them toward his chest. Lance was caught off guard and his face was lit with a pink blush. He was gorgeous. His large brown eyes and plump pink lips, the same as always. They were the last thing Keith would think about every night and the first thing Keith would look forward to seeing in the morning. Yes, he thought. He wanted this and more and he would take it and keep it for as long as he could have it.

                “Lance,” He looked into Lance’s brown eyes hopefully. “Tell me… again.” Lance’s mouth fell open and his eyebrows shot up his forehead.  His hands flinched in Keith’s, then began shaking. “Please.” Keith added with a small encouraging squeeze to Lance’s hands.

                Lance’s eyes were still wide and unblinking as he licked his lips and spared a glance into Keith’s eyes. “Keith … I – I --.” He swallowed and shook his head, a determined look taking over his face as he made complete eye contact. “Te quiero.” Lance licked his lips again and then whispered, “Eres perfecto.”

                Keith pulled on Lance’s hands just enough to bring him down an inch or two as he stepped forward. Their lips met in the middle, barely touching, then slotting together, making Lance shiver.

                As quick as it happened, Lance pulled away, covering his mouth with both hands. He blinked at Keith with wide eyes and a red tint at the tips of his ears.

                “Keith! You kissed me!” The words were muffled behind Lance’s hands, but they still managed to come out shrilly with surprise.

                Keith blanched and looked away quickly with embarrassment, his heart slamming into his chest. “Yeah.” He turned away from Lance and took a side step away, too embarrassed to stand facing the taller man. “Of course I did.” Keith mumbled, “You told me you love me. Idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> So what I kind of constructed for the misunderstanding is a mistranslated phrase between Spanish and French. So I freaking dug for similar words in French that meant rude stuff. Why French? I have no idea. 
> 
> What I found:   
> "Who are you? Idiot." - (French) qui es-tu? perdant.   
> "I love you. You're perfect." - (Spanish) te quiero. eres perfecto.
> 
> They sound nothing alike, but you know Hunk didn't catch the whole phrase???? I'm grasping at whatever I can here people. Don't hate me. I can barely speak my own language.


End file.
